


Kiss Me on That Midnight Street

by novemberhush



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: A little angst, Again what else is new?, Buck is there to have his back and make it all better, Christopher gets sick but it’s only a minor bug I promise, Eddie feels guilty, First Kiss, Getting Together, I couldn’t hurt my little man, I think that’s everything, M/M, New Year’s Eve and the 118 are partying, What else is new?, a little fluff, a little hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:22:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22075426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novemberhush/pseuds/novemberhush
Summary: It’s New Year’s Eve and the 118 have a rare night off all together to celebrate. But when Eddie gets a call that his son is sick he has no idea how much his life is about to change forever.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 78
Kudos: 384





	Kiss Me on That Midnight Street

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AJenno](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJenno/gifts).



> Hey, so it looks like I’m just getting in under the wire here to post this before New Year’s Day is over and done with (at least in my time zone) for another year. This is my first fic in this fandom, which I’ve only just stumbled into over the past few weeks so I’m hoping I’ve haven’t disgraced myself too badly. It also turned out slightly differently than I’d planned, but it happens that way sometimes (oftentimes!) so I just rolled with the changes and I think they probably work better than what I originally had in mind. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I wish you all a happy, healthy, peaceful 2020. Oh, and the title comes from the David Gray song, _This Year’s Love_ , which you can listen to [here](https://youtu.be/6zN4_7hq77grel=).

The party’s in full swing when his aunt calls, Eddie thanking his lucky stars he’d had the foresight to put his phone on vibrate before slipping it into his pocket earlier. There’s no way he’d have heard it ringing over all the music and laughter and chatter. 

He doesn’t immediately panic when he sees who’s calling, his mind doesn’t immediately start running through all the worst case scenarios it can think of. He credits his therapy sessions with Frank for some of that and the optimism of a certain happy-go-lucky best friend of his that he’s felt starting to rub off on him lately for the rest. No, there’s no need to panic just yet. After all, it’s New Year’s Eve. His aunt probably just wants to wish him a Happy New Year. Maybe even has Christopher lined up to do the same, even though it’s long past his bedtime.

Excusing himself from the conversation he’d been having with Hen and Karen he ducks out the front door into Cap and Athena’s front yard (the back is a hub of noise and celebration) and quickly hits ‘accept’ on his phone, a warm greeting for his aunt on his lips. It dies instantly when he hears the worry in her voice.

Christopher’s sick. He’s been throwing up and he says his stomach hurts. He hadn’t wanted Pepa to call, not wanting to disrupt one of his daddy’s rare nights out without him, but thankfully his aunt knew better than that. There’s no way Eddie would want to be out partying when his son was sick. There’s no way he’d want to be _anywhere_ other than with his brave little man when he’s ill, no matter how painfully it makes his heart twist in his chest every time he thinks about Christopher suffering, even if it is just with a run-of-the-mill tummy bug. The school had let him know there was one going around just before Christmas, but he’d been hoping they’d dodged a bullet. No such luck.

He quickly reassures Pepa he’s on his way and hangs up before he realizes he has no idea how he’s gonna get there. He’d left his truck at home, knowing he’d be drinking tonight (ironically he’d ended up nursing the same beer all night, deciding once he’d arrived at the party that he didn’t feel like getting trashed and having to start the new year with a monster hangover), and had taken an Uber to get here. But there’s no way he’s getting a cab or Uber at this time of night on New Year’s Eve, at least not without a serious wait. 

_Think_ , he tells himself, _just think_. His army training kicks in and he takes a few deep breaths, calming his mind and body enough to let him sort through his available options and decide on a course of action. He’s just about to head inside to ask Cap and Athena if he can borrow one of their vehicles when the front door opens and a familiar figure steps out.

“Hey, Eddie, what’s… what’s going on? What are you doing out here, man? Is everything okay? Is… is it Christopher? Is he okay?” Buck hits him with the barrage of questions as he jogs down the front steps, tripping over his words and one of Cap’s garden ornaments as he does so, concern written all over that face that’s like an open book to Eddie (and the rest of the world) most days.

He’s wearing his jacket with the fleece lining that looks so soft and warm. Eddie shivers, noticing for the first time since he stepped outside how cold it actually is. There are patio heaters out back and the house is more than adequately heated, but there’s no heaters out here in front and Eddie had stepped out without his own jacket, which was no doubt still hanging in Cap’s front closet. He’s just thinking about how nice it would be to burrow into that fleece jacket, into _Buck_ , and all his wonderful body heat, when Buck brings his arm up, Eddie’s jacket dangling from his fingertips.

“Here,” he says. “I brought you your jacket. It’s not exactly a summer’s day out here in case you hadn’t noticed.” He jiggles said jacket, an exasperated look on his face and an unamused “Come on, man, put it on,” slipping from his lips when Eddie doesn’t move to take it. Huffing a breath out of his nose and shaking his head he moves forward himself, opening the jacket out as he does so, stepping around Eddie and jostling him into it like he’s a kid refusing to get dressed for school. He steps round in front again once it's on and Eddie doesn’t think he even realizes what he’s doing when he starts zipping it up too.

“I got it from here,” Eddie finally manages to blurt out, hands coming up to take over the task of zipping the jacket and colliding with Buck’s where he’s still working on the zip. Eddie’s hands curl around Buck’s seemingly of their own volition and they both freeze, eyes meeting and holding in a way Eddie knows is way too intense for just friends. The moment is only broken by the sound of Eddie’s phone going off again.

Dragging his gaze away from Buck and letting go off his hands, he pulls out his phone, cursing softly when he reads the new message from his aunt. Christopher has thrown up again. Eddie feels that twist in his chest once more.

Buck takes another step closer, not that there had been much space between them to begin with. Eddie knows without Buck having to say a word that he’s confused, worried and just wants to help. He watches as Buck twists his head, craning his neck to read the message still lit up on Eddie’s phone. Eddie doesn’t stop him. Doesn’t even think to.

‘Christopher’s sick??” Buck practically shouts. “Come on! We… we gotta go see him!” The worry is once again etched across his face and the tense line of his whole body as he grabs Eddie’s arm and starts steering him across the street to his Jeep telegraphs his anxiety loud and clear.

Eddie stumbles along for a few feet, in a daze, before he comes to his senses and stops in his tracks. Buck almost trips again, his forward momentum abruptly halted when Eddie pulls up short. He turns to look at Eddie, an impatient, questioning look on his face. His hands flail out in Eddie’s direction before jerking back towards the Jeep, clearly wondering what the hold up is and urging Eddie to just get in the vehicle already.

“Buck, it’s okay. You don’t have to come. You shouldn’t have to leave the party, have your night ruined, just because my kid’s got a stomach ache,” Eddie mutters. The look on Buck’s face lets Eddie know exactly what he thinks of that statement, chin dipping down towards his chest and eyebrows raising towards his hairline as he fixes Eddie with a withering look that’s one part _Don’t talk bullshit, of course I’m coming with you_ to three parts _I can’t believe you think I’d put a party before Christopher_. Eddie’s confident there’s nothing Buck would put before Christopher these days and his heart sings at the knowledge.

But still he tries again, the ever present guilt eating away at him, telling him he’s a letdown to his son and a burden on his best friend. Telling him he’s not enough. He’ll _never_ be enough.

“I don’t wanna put you out, Buck. Really, it’s fine. How often does the whole team get New Year’s Eve off together, huh? It could be years before we get another one. You shouldn’t have to miss out just because of me and Chris. I’m just gonna ask Cap and Athena if I can borrow one of their cars. Or I can call a cab or an Uber or something. Besides, you volunteered to be one of the designated drivers tonight, right? Haven’t you got to take Maddie and Chim and Hen and Karen home later?”

“Eddie, there’s no way you’re getting a cab or Uber tonight, or at least not for hours anyway,” Buck replies, rolling his eyes like it’s obvious and Eddie’s an idiot for not realizing. Inwardly Eddie smiles at both the gesture and Buck’s words echoing his own thoughts from only a few minutes ago. 

“And as for Maddie and Chim and the others?” Buck continues. “Just… just wait here a minute. Okay? Just… wait.” He dashes back across the street, across the lawn and up the steps to the front door, white sneakers an urgent blur against the dark ground, long legs making quick work of the short distance. He disappears inside and Eddie… Eddie just waits.

Buck’s back in no time, rushing out the door like the house is on fire. He barrels down the steps and across the lawn again, key fob in hand, unlocking the Jeep before he’s even hit the street. He’s talking again too, albeit a little breathlessly.

“Okay, so Cap is gonna make sure Hen and Karen get home safe and John says he can squeeze Maddie and Chim in his car so we’re good to go.” He opens the driver’s side door, ready to clamber in, when he notices Eddie hasn’t moved. “Eddie,” he says, voice firm and brooking no argument, “get in.”

Still Eddie doesn’t move. He wants to. God knows he wants to. He has Christopher to get to, after all. But still something stops him, holds him back. He tries to ignore what his heart and his brain are telling him, tries to just get in the damn Jeep and go to his son, but he’s been ignoring a lot of things lately. Too many things. Important things.

Things like Buck. 

Or, more accurately, his feelings for Buck and the little voice in the back of his head that’s been trying to tell him what he’s been reading on that open book Buck calls a face. The story’s been writ there in large print for anyone who cared to look for a long time now. 

Buck loves him. 

It’s been there, written all over his face for longer than Eddie would like to admit. Because that would mean also admitting he’s been ignoring it for just as long. At first he wasn’t ready to see it, still hurting from Shannon’s rejection and then her death. Although he thinks he can be forgiven for not jumping straight into a new relationship with his best friend when his wife, estranged or not, was barely cold in the ground. 

But then came the lawsuit and he was so _angry_ with Buck. So angry for him at setting himself at odds against the rest of them. So angry that he hadn’t come and talked it all through with Eddie first. So angry even though he could still see the love in Buck’s eyes, still there amidst all the hurt and loneliness and feelings of betrayal and isolation. 

And then they made up and he was angry with _himself_. Angry about how he’d accused Buck of not being there for him and Christopher when he wasn’t entirely sure he’d been there for Buck as much as he’d needed him to be either. Angry that he’d made Buck think he was replaceable, that he was moving on without him. Angry that he needed Buck in the first place, that he needed _anyone_ other than his son. Angry that he wasn’t enough by himself. 

And then he’d just been scared. Too afraid of losing what they had by shooting for something more. Keeping Buck close but at a distance at the same time. Hanging out as friends but never acknowledging that this feeling between them extended way beyond just friendship. 

It hurt, though. It hurt _so_ _much._

Having Buck back by his side at work, and on his couch, playing video games or watching a movie multiple times a week. 

Cooking together, moving in sync around the kitchen as smoothly as they moved together evacuating a burning building or running through a collapsing tunnel or whatever the case may be. 

Pretending not to watch Buck’s mouth as he brought a beer to his lips, to not watch the pale stretch of his neck as he swallowed the liquid down, not to watch the bobbing of his Adam’s apple. Pretending not to wonder what it’d be like to press his lips against that neck, to take that bottle from Buck’s lips and replace it with his own. 

Watching him play with Chris and pretending to know what the hell it was Chris had put together with his LEGO. Hell, sometimes he wasn’t even pretending, being so close to Chris and often understanding him in a way Eddie didn’t. He knew if he ever brought up the whole ‘do dogs know they’re dogs’ question again in front of Buck that it would lead to some incredibly entertaining, incredibly enthusiastic, incredibly _endearing_ debate.

And it was hurting Buck too. Eddie could see that and it killed him. But he saw the hope in Buck’s face too, the determination to never give up, to wait as long as it took for Eddie to conquer his fear and tear down his walls and let him inside.

And now here they were, rapidly approaching midnight on New Year’s Eve, standing in the middle of a moonlit street, the low hum of the party still going on inside, and that of other parties in other houses, background noise to the biggest moment in Eddie’s life besides the birth of his son. Because Eddie knows now that how the rest of the story will go is about to be decided, right here, right now.

If he lets Buck take him home, lets him help take care of Christopher tonight, he'll never be able to let him go again. Buck has to know that. Has to understand what’s happening here, what he’s signing up for; has to be sure it’s what he really wants and that he’s prepared to commit to it. Because if he’s not then Eddie’s heart won’t be able to take it. He opens his mouth to speak, to say God only knows what, but no words come out. 

But then Buck’s there, having his back as usual, closing the distance between them in a few quick strides. Right up in Eddie’s space, eyes shining with what can only be described as joy, and knowing exactly what’s going through Eddie’s mind without him having to utter a single word.

“It’s okay, Eddie,” he whispers. “It’s all gonna be okay now. Come on, let’s go home. Our boy needs us.” He’s smiling now, a small, private thing, intimate, only for them. Only for _Eddie_ (and, he suspects, Christopher). 

Home. To their boy.

Eddie likes how that sounds.

But there’s something he’s gotta do first.

“Buck,” he manages to croak out, voice small and wrecked and overawed, eyes brimming with tears, hands reaching out of their own accord to grip the sides of Buck’s jacket and gently draw him closer. “Buck, I… I need you to know… need you to know how much I love you, how much I’m _in_ love with you, and how sorry I am for... for everything.”

Buck steps that much closer, eliminating all space between them until they’re pressed together chest to chest, his hands coming up to tenderly cup Eddie’s face. So, so tender. Eddie’s never felt anything like it, thinks he could die from it, and happily so.

“I know, Eddie, and it’s okay. Really, it is. I’m so sorry for all the pain I caused you, for all the pain you had to suffer through without me there to have your back and help you carry it. But I love you too. I love you so damn much. And I love Christopher, and I’m never leaving either of you again. The only way you’re getting rid of me is sending me away, telling me you don’t want to be with me, and even then I’ll just hang around here like a kicked puppy, just waiting for you to come back to me.”

Eddie shakes his head, tears beginning to fall, unable to even entertain the thought of ever sending Buck away again. “No, no,” he sobs, his grip on Buck tightening, pulling him impossibly closer, burying his face in Buck’s shoulder. “Never again. I’m never being without you again. Could never send you away. Never.”

He feels strong arms wrap around him then and he’s never felt safer. He looks up, eyes catching Buck’s and they’re both smiling now. Neither says anything for a moment, both, Eddie suspects, afraid to burst the little bubble of happiness that holds them in its grasp.

Then Buck’s eyes are dropping to Eddie’s lips and Eddie swallows, knowing what Buck wants, wanting the same thing himself so desperately. He nods, giddy with the feelings running through him. The joy, the hope, the _love_. He vaguely registers what sounds like a countdown and in his own mind he’s counting down too. Counting down to the start of the rest of his life.

They both lean in, slowly, so slowly, both eager for the contact but wanting to prolong the moment, the delicious anticipation, as long as possible. And then they’re kissing. Soft and sweet and slow. 

And then it’s fireworks. 

_Literally_ fireworks.

The sky is filled with light and colour, sparks and noise. Eddie can relate.

They’re still in their own little bubble for another few moments, noses brushing against each other, cheeks sore from smiling so hard, and then they hear whoops and cheers and the distinct sound of someone (Chimney, Eddie thinks) yelling “ _Finally!_ ” They look up to find not only their friends, their _family_ , cheering them on, but half the street as well. They’re all out in their front yards, drawn out by the fireworks and discovering a whole other show going on. 

Eddie and Buck look around, dumbfounded, then they look up, watching the fireworks streak across the sky, before their eyes return inevitably to each other again. Something passes between them then. A look, an unspoken promise that they both hear loud and clear, louder than any firework display. Then they’re laughing. Laughing harder than Eddie’s ever laughed before, harder than he’s ever seen Buck laugh before, the joy bubbling up out of them and overflowing, unable to be contained.

“Happy New Year, Eddie,” Buck manages to get out through his laughter.

“Happy New Year, Buck,” Eddie responds, something in his gut telling him it’s gonna be a good one, maybe even the best yet.

And then Eddie’s phone goes again and suddenly the guilt comes crashing back over him again. He’s forgotten about Christopher! His son’s sick at home, waiting on his daddy to come make it better, and he’s making out in the street like a horny teenager.

But Buck’s there again, wading into that sea of guilt as surely as he’d waded into the waters after the tsunami to help others with never a thought for himself. He squeezes Eddie’s hand, bringing him back to shore.

“It’s okay, Eddie. He’s okay. And he’s gonna be even better from now on. You are too, and so am I. Because we’ve got each other now in a way we didn’t have before. There’s no more secrets, no more resentment and no more stopping ourselves from being happy. Now, come on, let’s go home so Christopher can hug his daddy and his Buck.”

_Yeah_ , Eddie thinks as he lets Buck tangle their fingers together and lead him to the Jeep, throwing a wave over his shoulder to their still baying audience with his free hand, _this year’s gonna be great_. They’re gonna _make_ it great.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to come share your thoughts on the story (or just to swoon over hot firefighters with me!), either here in the comments section or over on tumblr where I’m also known as novemberhush. Happy New Year! xxx


End file.
